Antonella Artuso, Queen's Park Bureau Chief

Resigning Alberta Premier Alison Redford is an insightful and smart woman and it wouldn’t be a shock if gender bias played a role in her departure, Premier Kathleen Wynne says.

“I hope that it’s not the case that there was a gender issue in terms of the decision that she made,” Wynne said Saturday.

“Would it be a shock to me if there were some part of the decision that had to do with her being a woman? It wouldn’t be a shock to me.”

Redford resigned as premier after questions were raised publicly about her expenses and her attitude toward her mostly male caucus, including one member who quit, calling her “not a nice lady.”

Wynne said it would be nice to get to a point where a politician’s gender is not an issue.

Although they come from different political backgrounds — Redford is a Conservative, Wynne is a Liberal — the Ontario premier said she always welcomed her counterpart’s voice at the Council of the Federation.